Solar Panel Wattage

[Joel S]

What wattage are you running on your rig? I have a prinsu rack so it’s pretty modular, looking to mount a solar panel for a dual battery setup.

Is the wattage good enough? Do you wish you had more? I’m pretty interested

 

[El Solis]

I run a 100W panel and love it. No issues running the fridge etc.

 

[Brewbud]

I run a 100W panel. It will keep up with my ARB 63qt fridge. It will usually have my battery pack charged before 1 pm after a night running the fridge. It would have been nice to have another 100W panel this last weekend. In addition to the fridge, I ran a 250W crockpot for 3 hours. I never ran out of power but I did get my 1000W Lithium battery down below 50%.

 

[Edy Coyote]

I'm going to run 140 watts this some. Two panels a 90 and 50. From my research and calculations that should be good. Big power (relatively) draw will be my fridge. I've got the CTek DC to DC setup so its basically plaug and play. I do plan on running a secondary wiring setup to use the panels in conjunction with a solar controller/battery on my tent trailer.

 

[Luis Merlo]

 

[Edy Coyote]

Say what?

 

[Luis Merlo]

I have the option to run an 80 watt panel for say...fridge only, or combined 180 watts if I have lighting, phones, camera gear etc...slim and portable

 

[Edy Coyote]

I have the option to run an 80 watt panel for say...fridge only, or combined 180 watts if I have lighting, phones, camera gear etc...slim and portable

That's plenty of power.

 

[Luis Merlo]

That's plenty of power.

yes...the fridge runs hard here...not only temperature ,above 40 Celsius but high humidity also

 

[Edy Coyote]

Gotcha

 

[avgjoe624]

Im just getting into the solar panel thing. Is there a particular brand that anyone recommends over the other?

 

[El Solis]

I’ve used Renogy with great results.

 

[Edy Coyote]

Agreed Renogy makes good products. There are trade offs with the different panel types. (Monocrystalline, polycrystalline, amorphous) I run monocrytalline, they seem to be most efficient.

 

[Joel S]

any reason to run a charger larger than 10A

 

[Luis Merlo]

depends how many amps your panels will create / push ?

 

[Joel S]

depends how many amps your panels will create / push ?

Both would generate 5 amps, for 180 watts total 2X(90W 5A panels)

 

[007]

I run 4 x 100 watt panels under my Roof Rack at one time and charge 2 x 100 amps deep cycle batteries in parallel all day long.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

What wattage are you running on your rig? I have a prinsu rack so it’s pretty modular, looking to mount a solar panel for a dual battery setup.
Is the wattage good enough? Do you wish you had more? I’m pretty interested

Duel batteries and your good for a week without the car battery or the solar if your talking about the refer needs and a few gadgets and coffee maker or small 800w microwave. With 100w solar your not likely to ever drain the batteries unless you have a really big drain on the system. As with everything else when camping, your not at home or on the grid. It will be more than you should ever need short of being on the computer 24/7. How many family members will be using your recourses ? That may have something to do with what is adequate. Compute your needs from the appliance usage, there are plenty of utube videos on this subject if you need visual assistance.

 

[007]

It all came about because I needed to power my remote site. If you look close to the back end on the floor you will see my cable that I run to the cabin. I run it to the cabin inverter and power it for the weekend. I rap it around my tire carrier. I lower the tire carrier and rap it around it towards the inside of the tire and I'm done. Goes with me everywhere.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

It all came about because I needed to power my remote site. If you look close to the back end on the floor you will see my cable that I run to the cabin. I run it to the cabin inverter and power it for the weekend. I rap it around my tire carrier. I lower the tire carrier and rap it around it towards the inside of the tire and I'm done. Goes with me everywhere.
View attachment 110086

The thing with solar is the initial set up. Lets say you start with 100w solar panel and a10a charger that will give you 6a+- of power. If you don't have enough for your needs another 100w panel can be added but if you do you will need another 10a charger because 6a from each panel will give you total of 12a which exceeds a single 10a charger. You don't want that or you will burn up the 10a charger. As long as you need another charger just jump to the 30a size so that if in the future you want to add another 100w (or two) solar panel you will have enough charger to handle all 300w of solar.. 6ax3= 18a, your charger can handle 30a.
I don't have a remote site but I have the same needs for my storage buildings on my property. They have no electricity. I have two 135ah marine batteries. Batteries need to be used or they go bad. I don't camp that often but when I do I may be out for weeks so that is why I need solar power. When I am not camping I will use both batteries to power my storage and shop buildings to maintain the batteries. This is what I will do. I will have one 100w solar panel on the storage building roof and one portable panel on the ground when I am home. I will have one 30a charger hooked up to both of them when I am home. When I go on the road I will take one battery, one 100w panel and the 10a charger that came with my kit. That will leave one 100w solar panel, One battery and the 30a charge controller left in tact on the storage building for lights and tools. I may eventually tie the solar battery to the car batter for camping but I doubt it. That would require me to buy an additional inverter which I don't want to do. I will have a single 1100w inverter for the storage set up for my 110v service. I may buy a small wattage inverter (150-300) for 110v service for the rig if I feel the need.